


The Link that Lingers

by misszeldasayre



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-13 22:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13580022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misszeldasayre/pseuds/misszeldasayre
Summary: As Rey attempts to explain the Force Bond between her and Kylo Ren, Leia witnesses the phenomenon firsthand as it activates during Rey’s explanation. Set afterThe Last Jedi.





	The Link that Lingers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chthonia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chthonia/gifts).



Crait a bloody smear in its wake, the _Millenium Falcon_ soars away from the First Order’s clutches and onto safety. Rey locates Leia among the remnants of the Resistance milling around the ship, and pulls her aside as soon as the general has a moment alone. “Something’s happening,” Rey begins. “Between me and Ben.”

At first, Rey worries that she sounds crinking insane. But Leia listens, no trace of skepticism in her gaze. “You can’t predict when it will activate? Are you sure there aren’t any patterns in the moments leading up to your contact?”

Emotions. Strong emotions—frustration, anger, victory. “I think… we’re attuned to each other’s feelings. When we connect, I sense these emotions, but they’re not mine.”

Leia steeples her fingers, examining the girl seated before her. “And Snoke claims he facilitated the connection between you two?”

“Yes, but he’s dead now. Ben killed him, yet we’re still connecting.”

When Rey looks up from her hands, she sees Leia staring at a distant past spreading like a supernova before her. “Luke and I spent years thousands of parsecs apart,” she says absently. “But we could always feel each other. One night almost a decade ago, I woke up drenched in remorse that wasn’t my own. Weeks later, I found out that Luke had gone to confront my son that evening. I felt Luke’s agony, the burning temple, the rising darkness all from the safety of my bed.” A rueful smile lights her eyes. “Han couldn’t understand it, but he tried. I understand you, Rey.”

Perhaps the memory of the old smuggler does it, or the motherly empathy in Leia’s tone. Whatever the source, a great loss wells up in Rey’s throat, visceral and crushing.

For a moment, loneliness beats in her chest, a mournful tune threatening to drown her. Then _he_ enters her mind, and the loss ebbs in his presence. When she looks beyond her pain, beyond Leia, into Kylo Ren’s eyes, she sees that he feels it, too. Sharing that pain numbs Rey to its sting, but Kylo’s thick brows knit together in concern.

“You are hurting,” he says uncertainly.

“You feel it?”

“I do.”

Leia voice breaks Rey’s concentration. “Rey?”

The sound paralyzes Kylo, replacing concern with an urgency Rey hasn’t seen in him before. “Who’s there?” When Rey doesn’t respond, he demands again, “Who’s there?”

Leia stands, peering across the table, searching for what Rey fixates on.

“You know who’s here,” Rey says. Kylo’s hands compress into gloved fists.

“ _Why_ is she here?” he hisses.

“Why are you here?” Rey fires back.

“I don’t know. If I did, I’d…” His voice wavers, a ship caught in a crosswind.

Distantly, Leia murmurs to herself, “It’s activated.” Then her hand reaches for Rey’s. At the contact, Rey shivers and then Kylo Ren falls still. His scowl melts away, his fists fall to his side.

“You can see me,” he whispers, but he’s not talking to Rey.

Leia’s eyes lock on her son, rove over his face, linger on his scar. “I see you,” she says, and Rey hears acceptance—love—between every syllable.

A familiar bitter tang rises in her mouth as Rey remembers how Kylo ripped his family apart and cast it aside like a worn-out robe. She remembers how he cut down his father, tried to gun down his uncle. Just hours ago, how he fought with her, but couldn’t bring himself to follow her. All for a jagged kyber crystal and an empty determination to rule the galaxy.

Rey would give every planet in the galaxy for a mother like Leia. Watching her smile at her son, after all he’s done, turns Rey’s stomach. “You don’t deserve this,” she snarls at Kylo, keeping her eyes trained on him as she lets go of Leia’s hand. As the general flickers out of his view, something inside him snaps. His agony washes over Rey, guilt and longing wrapped up in a thick cloak of shame.The raw force of his feelings almost drives her to her knees, but she can’t bear to look at him any longer. Rey throws up boulders in her mind, breaking their connection as Kylo reaches for her.

A weaker person would tremble, but not Leia. She sags into her chair and waits for a moment until the fire under Rey burns out and the girl stops staring at the shadow of a man who was never even there.

“So that’s the bond,” Leia sighs. Rey nods, for what else is there to add? “What a powerful connection you and Ben share. Connections like those do not form easily. With Snoke gone, it should’ve disappeared.”

Leia’s words linger in Rey’s mind long after the general returns to her people. While Rey settles into the pilot’s seat, taking the controls from Chewie as he moans about the porgs nestling into his fur, she tries to imagine what’s holding her and Ben together long after they should’ve crumbled to dust.

Something grows between them in their uncertain moments stolen in the shadows, Rey can feel it. Kylo must feel it, too. Maybe the Force has tied them together against their wills, and they can’t let go no matter how they try. Maybe they’d refuse to let go even if they knew they could. Maybe they see each other as they really are, and that’s why they keep coming back to each other long after their bond should have flickered out like a distant star on the horizon.


End file.
